(NEWS) IAMU Student Forum - Tokyo, 19 to 24 July, 2015

July

2015

IAMU Student Forum - Tokyo, 19 to 24 July, 2015

The first ever stand-alone IAMU student forum and workshop was held in Tokyo, Japan on 21 and 22 July 2015.

The IAMU Office in Tokyo welcomed 48 students from IAMU member institutions in 31 countries for discussions and presentations as well as a technical tour. The Workshop Coordinator was Associate Professor Michael Manuel and the WMU student representative at the forum was Mr. Usman Saroni (Indonesia, SML Class of 2015).

The students were assigned to the groups to have discussions on a number of themes in a workshop setting. Each group’s discussions were facilitated by a member of the faculty of IAMU member universities. The themes and facilitators were:

Multicultural, multilingual environment on board – facilitated by Associate Professor Matthew Rooks from Kobe University, Japan
Onboard training - facilitated by Capt. Amr Ibrahim from Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Egypt
Maritime leadership - group discussions facilitated by Professor Donna Nincic from California Maritime Academy, USA and
Attraction, retention and attrition of seafarers - group discussions facilitated by Professor Margareta Lutzhoft from Australia Maritime College, Australia

The groups gave presentations on the key issues emanating from their discussions before a panel of judges and all students received certificates for their work.

Prior to the commencement of the workshop, on Monday 20 July, the students, Workshop Coordinator and the Group Facilitators took part in the IMO World Maritime Day Parallel Event, which coincided with the National Marine Day of Japan. The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, the IMO Secretary General and Chancellor of WMU, Mr. Koji Sekimizu and Dr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the Nippon Foundation, among others, addressed a significant number of dignitaries from around the world who had gathered for the event. As part of the ceremonies marking the day, a number of panellists also discussed various issues of relevance to the maritime industry. These included WMU President Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry who spoke on how stakeholders in maritime education and training could cover the diverse activities related to the oceans.

The students – accompanied by the Executive Director of IAMU, Professor Takeshi Nakazawa, the Workshop Coordinator, Associate Professor Michael Manuel, and the Group Facilitators – also paid a courtesy call on Dr. Yohei Sasakawa. Dr. Sasakawa advised the students to be mindful of their role as future leaders, to commit to the global discourse characteristic of an awareness of the shared humanity of all peoples and of the sustainable stewardship of the oceans.

The forum ended with a technical tour on Thursday 23 July 2015.

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